Shane's best day
by melinda08
Summary: pre-series. All his life, Shane was looking for just one person to believe in him. Just one. All of that changed the day he interviewed with Vic Mackey for a strike team position. with many many thanks to Jessie for everything.


Shane Vandrell looked around the new building, new to him anyways. He'd never been so nervous in his life. All of his life he'd wanted to be a police officer, but his family had all laughed at him. They told him he would always be a nothing, a redneck, a nobody. It kind of hurt that even his own mom didn't believe in him, but as soon as he'd turned 18 he'd joined the police academy and got as far away from Kentucky as possible.

Of course, starting over hadn't been easy. No one wanted to hire him. His grades hadn't been the best, and it seemed like that once again, no one wanted to give him a chance. He needed this last shot in Farmington. He had to prove to himself, to his family, that he wasn't a nobody, that he could achieve something in his life. But he had to set aside all that and tell the people he was interviewing for what they wanted to hear.

"Hello, Officer Vandrell, is it? I'm Captain Acevada. I hope you don't mind, but the position you'll be interviewing for is for one of our strike team members. Do you know anything about a strike team?"

Shane looked around. There was the Latino captain, of course, but also in the room was a bald, intimidating looking man. Boy, Shane would hate to cross that man on a bad day. "No, sir. But I'm ready to learn if you'd just give me the opportunity..."

David looked at the bald headed officer, who just chuckled. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, sir. I'm actually from Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati."

The two men exchanged looks. The bald-headed man spoke. "You're a long way from Kansas, cowboy! What brings you to Farmington?"

"Um, sir...I just wanted to bring my skills to a town where I thought I could do the most good..."

The two officers looked at each other, and then Shane shook his head. "Look, can I start all over? Can I be honest, real honest with you two?"

"Go ahead," the captain spoke up.

"Look, I've tried everywhere to find my place. I knew I wouldn't cut it in my hometown- they only seemed to be interested in hiring their friends, and to be honest, I wasn't exactly the most popular guy in school. I tried hard, but grades...well, there's no hiding it, you'll see even in the academy my grades weren't always the best."

"So why should we give you a shot?" The bald-headed guy asked bluntly.

"Because," Shane sighed, frustrated. "I'm tired. I'm tired of people just looking their noses down at me like I'm some dumb redneck. I'll work real hard, overtime without complaint. I'm loyal to a fault...I guess when you've had people in your life who aren't that nice to you, you don't forget those who do give you a chance. And that's me. If you give me a chance, I may make mistakes, but I won't ever, ever make you sorry that you gave me the shot I've been looking for all my life. That's the God's honest truth. I guess I said too much, and I'm sorry for wasting your time." Shane, shaking his head, stood up to leave.

"Where you going, cowboy? You haven't met the rest of the strike team!" The bald guy smiled. "I believe we haven't been formally introduced. I'm Vic Mackey. You'd be reporting to me, but the others...Ronnie and Lem, we're all family. There's nothing I wouldn't do for those guys, and if we were to give you a chance, I'd expect you to treat those guys like your own family. Better than your own family, if I hear you right. What do you say, you ready to meet the rest of the team?" Vic smiled.

Shane nearly spilled his coffee, he was so excited. "Yes, sir. Of course. If you just give me this one chance, I promise you, you won't be sorry."

The captain looked at Vic. "You sure about this?"

Vic smiled. "I like this guy. Something tells me he'll work harder than most. I trust him. And if we don't have trust, what kind of a team do we have?"

Shane grinned. "So you'll give me a chance?"

Vic laughed. "Let's see what Ronnie and Lem think. But you know what...as far as it's worth, you have my vote. I'll take it from here, Captain," He looked at Acevada with a smirk. "Come on, Shane. Something tells me you'll do just fine around here."

"You won't be sorry, Officer Mackey."

"Vic. If we're going to be partners, we might as well start out on the right foot, right?"

It was right then and there that Shane vowed he would do anything for Vic Mackey. For the rest of his life, he would make sure to work hard to prove that Vic would never be sorry for taking that chance on him. Never.

The end


End file.
